Watford’s Daryl Janmaat is determined not to experience Premier League relegation again after suffering the fate with Newcastle United two years ago.

The Dutch defender was part of the Magpies side which dropped into the Championship following a turgid 2015-16 season, before making a £7.5m switch to Vicarage Road.

Back to back wins over Everton and West Brom have probably secured a fourth successive top flight season for the Hornets, but Janmaat knows just how precious that status is and won’t be resting on any laurels.

“We’ve had two good two wins and now we’re looking forward to Arsenal,” he said. “It gives me a lot of confidence and I think we are in a good place now.

Read More

“Everybody can be positive but we’re not there yet. We know we have nine games left, and if we don’t do it now it will only get harder.

“Nobody wants to be relegated – I had it once and nobody wants it – but nobody here is worrying about that. We don’t think about it, we want to look up.

“It’s not nice, especially with Newcastle as they’re a really big club who expect better, but that’s the Premier League, and I guess there will be more big teams going down this year.”

For a player voted Supporters’ Trust Player of the Year in his first season, Janmaat’s two-year stay at Newcastle ended badly – not just because of the relegation, but due to two clashes with fans in his last two months at the club.

A lot of that could probably be put down to the frustrations off the pitch as well as on it at St James’ Park, and Janmaat is grateful for a more settled atmosphere at Vicarage Road.

Daryl Janmaat and unhappy Newcastle fans during their relegation season (Getty Images)

“It was different here – you could feel it straight away,” he added.

“Newcastle are a big club – I’m not saying Watford aren’t – but there were certain expectations there as they have the potential to be a top six team.

“It’s not easy for any team outside the top six to stay up – at the start of the season each year you have about 12 teams who could be relegated.

"You have big teams going down each year – you have to earn your place in the Premier League.”